The church of the Virgin Mary Gorgoepikoos is next to the Cathedral
of Athens on Mitropoleos square. It also is known as the Little
Cathedral. It is one of the very few churches that have maintained
its original form and it has unique external sculptural decorations.

Panagia
Gorgoepikoos is a Byzantine church from the end of the 12th century,
the period when Michael Choniates was Bishop of Athens (1180-1204).
According to legend, Empress Eirene of Athens founded the church
in 787. During the Ottoman period the church was part of the Episcopal
mansion and was called “katholikon” (main church).

Eirene
of Athens (752-803)

Eirene
was Empress of Byzantium, born in Athens, wife of Leo
IV and mother of Constatine VI. After Leo’s dead
she came into power as the guardian of her young son.
Later she removed him from the throne and became the first
Empress (797-802).
She lost her throne to Nikephoros I in 802 and was exiled
to Lesvos.

Eirene
restored the icon worship which had been banned in the
Byzantine Empire by the so-called “eikonomachi”,
(inconoclasts), people who destroyed icons. Emperor Leo
III ordered the destruction of all icons of Jesus, the
Virgin Mary, and the Saints in his empire. She was active
in charitable work and her international policy was quite
successful. Her financial policies, however, proved damaging
to the public in the long run.

In
1841, after the foundation of the Greek State, the church was
used as the National Library, housing the first collection of
books donated to the Orphanage of Aegina. The church underwent
repairs in 1863 and was later also rededicated to Saint Eleftherios.

The
church is built as a cross-in-square with a three-part narthex
whose middle part is vaulted and taller than the other two. The
dome is the most characteristic and best preserved example of
the Athenian type and is therefore particularly important.

The
church is built largely of marble. Bricks or stones have hardly
been used apart from the dome. The lower part consists of undecorated
marble blocks, whereas in the higher part there are ninety ancient
Greek, Roman, early Christian and Byzantine walled-in reliefs.
A number of these were used in a way similar to their original
function while plaques with engraved scenes formed a frieze around
all sides of the church.

The
variety of walled-in reliefs is particularly interesting. Among
them are plaques from the 9th and 10th century using designs of
oriental origin (animals, plants, representations of the tree
of life etc.) or stemming from folk traditions. There are also
sculptures with trophies of the Panathenaic Games representing
athletic games and roman triumphs as well as other of Byzantine
origin with oriental sphinxes, geometric shapes, animals and plants.

A
4th century BC cornice has also survived representing celebrations
from the Attic calendar, including a scene showing Herakles with
Hebe. Interesting is that the artisans attempted to Christianize
these ancient sculptures by adding the symbol of the cross between
different scenes.